Tom and Jerry

Cocktail Recipe

J erry Thomas was America's first celebrity bartender. During his career, he exhibited his mixing skills around the globe. Thomas's shtick included the Blue Blazer, a mixture of water and Scotch lit aflame and poured between two mugs. He even had his own brand of bitters.

Fame bred a level of eccentricity in Thomas that might have kept him off television were he alive today. In Straight Up or On the Rocks: The Story of the American Cocktail, author William Grimes describes an 1882 article in the New York Sun, for which Thomas gave an interview while "two white rats pretty enough to be guinea pigs cut capers upon his shoulders, caressed him at the corners of his mustache, and mounted occasionally to the top of his derby hat." In comparison, Mario Batali's trademark bright orange clogs seem utterly inconspicuous.

In 1862, Thomas published How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, the world's first bartending guide and one that modern mixologists reviving classic cocktails look to for inspiration. Case in point: the sweet, eggy Tom and Jerry, once known as the Jerry Thomas. Beaten eggs, rum, and hot milk are combined into an ideal cold-weather treat. Thomas was so adamant about it being a winter drink that he refused to serve it at his own bar until after the season's first snowfall. Celebrity bartenders, it seems, do as they please. This recipe is inspired by the original.